Stornowayne Macraemer RIP.

Fans of revolutionary late 60s Detroit proto-punk were saddened recently to hear of the death of “Brother” Wayne Kramer, second last surviving member of controversial rockers The MC5. 

The MC5 were legendary for the incendiary rock captured on their 1968  “Kick Out The Jams” album, and became a huge influence on later musicians, but commercial success always eluded them due their involvement in the radical street politics of the 60s counterculture, their voracious drug intake and their fleekeen awful language – all summed up in their manifesto: “Dope, Rock ‘n’ Roll and ****in’ in the streets”.

Detroit, as we all know, was home to a large Hebridean emigrant community and so it will come as no surprise to our readers to learn that Kramer and the rest of the MC5 (Fred “Sonic” Smith, Rob Tyner, Dennis “Machine Gun” Thompson and Michael Davis) all had relatives back on the croft, probably.

There’s a very common myth that the MC5’s sound was a direct response to their experience of life on the mean streets of late 60s Detroit – race riots, Vietnam protests, police brutality,  the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground, the National Guard on the streets and the struggle of the counterculture against “The Man”.

This of course is fleekeen ruppish; In actual(ish) fact, Kramer and his bandmates nicked all their ideas about rock ‘n’ roll and revolution off their Stornoway cousins, when they were over visiting their great auntie Kennag on Seaforth Road in 1965.

In early November of that year, when they were still known as “The Motor City 5” (with a set consisting exclusively of the danns a’ rathaid tunes popular at Detroit Lewis & Harris Society tattie & herring suppers), Kramer, Smith et al came home on their holidays. 

Naturally, since it was just a couple of days before Guy Fawkes, the streets round great auntie Kennag’s house were in flames, with martial law, police helicopters overhead, and running battles between the Battery Boys, the Plastics and the Manor gang going on 24/6. Looting was rife, with a can of Sweetheart Stout and 10 Woodbines going missing from Cathie Ghall’s when nobody was looking. The Sea Cadets were sent out on the streets to restore order, and resorted to brutal methods such as tying people up (with very elaborate nautical knots) and singing English Episcopalian Hymns at them.

The coves fresh off the boat from Detroit had never seen such chaos, and hid in great auntie Kennag’s wardrobe for 3 days. Eventually a chance to escape the area arose, in the form of an invite to see their cousin Stornowayne’s band opening for the Karltoans at Laxdale Hall.

The “Murdo City 5” (as they were known at the time) consisted of: 

Stornowayne Makraemer (Guitar)

Dennis “Drenching Gun” Autos (Drums)

Fred “Sonic” Smithavenue (Guitar)

Michael Deamhais (Bass)

Rob Taigh-na-***** (Lead Vocals)

Now, back in these days there was a big  hole in the back wall of the Laxdale hall, and at Friday night dances, the first act had the job of chasing out any stray livestock that had wandered into the building during the week.

So it was that as the Detroit coves walked in, they came upon chaotic scenes as the Murdo City 5 simultaneously attempted to clear the hall and do their soundcheck – bleating sheep, feedback, barking dogs, sweary words being shouted at barking dogs etc etc. At the centre of the maelstrom stood Murdo City 5 vocalist Rob Taigh-na-***** shouting the band’s infamous catchphrase – “Kick Out The Rams, Murdofleekers!”. 

The band then launched into a succession of high-octane numbers such as “Murdo City’s Burnin’”, “Lookin’ at Ewes”, Black To Comm(unions), “The Amarybank Ruse”, “Shakin’ Peat” and a blistering adaptation of Free Jazz (Continuing) Chanterist Sun Ra-nish’s “Starsheep”. 

The songs were interspersed with rabble-rousing political harangues from the 5’s manager and ‘spiritual advisor’  John Sinclairplace – self-appointed leader of the Coulegrein branch of the White Panther (Continuing) Party, intent on stirring the audience into revolution.

For Kramer and his pals this was a moment of revelation – they took copious notes before fleeking off back to Detroit, shortening their name to “The MC5”, swapping their melodeons for guitars and copying everything they’d seen (with a few minor local adaptations). The rest is history.

Back in Stornoway, the “Murdo City 5” generously allowed their Detroit cousins to use the “MC5” tag; they’d got the cuiream in the meantime anyway, and by 1966 were known as “The APC5”. 

The APC5’s subsequent career mirrored that of their Detroit cousins in many ways: 

They maintained a strong involvement in  politics, famously playing an 8 hour set at the Anti-Vietram war riots outside the 1968 Kershader Common Grazings Committee National Convention. They had to, because none of the other so-called radical hippie artistes on the bill turned up, except (and even this is disputed) diehard marxists Country Maw & the Fishvan, and folkie Phil Lochs.

And the band continued to be no strangers to controversy; When Stornoway’s largest department store refused to stock their  first album, “Kick Out The Rams”, the APC5 used their label Croft Recordings’ money to take out a full page advert in the Gazette saying: “Fleek Woolies” … and a great scandal ensued. 

As with the MC5’s infamous  “F*** Hudson’s” debacle over in America, this led to the APC5’s record company dropping them. 2 critically acclaimed but commercially unsuccessful albums on Barratlantic Fish Processing Records followed:- “Bacachs in the USA” (1970) and “Haoidh Tuyme” (1971).

By 1973 the APC5’s substance abuse issues (Flukanide and Piper Export, mostly), perilous finances and relentless touring schedule had taken their toll, and they split up. 

In the late 70s the APC5’s work was ‘rediscovered’ by many of those involved in the islands’ emerging punk scene. Allegedly the band were pencilled in for a spot on “Sad Day We Left The Croft” which might have revived their career, but the deal fell through because Stornowayne Macraemer and Michael Deamhais were away in Craig Dunain at the time. The slots on the album reserved for The APC5 were instead filled at the last minute by young upstart teen punks “Addo With Mission”. 

In later years the APC5 had several reunions, albeit with a diminishing number of original members as they died off. A new album “Heavy Crofting” – featuring guest appearances from Churns and Doses guitarist Sloshed and Tom Moor-ello from Rage Against the Maw-chine – was in preparation at the time of Macraemer’s death.

For readers who want to find out a bit more about Brother Stornowayne Macraemer’s eventful life and works, we recommend his autobiography “The Bàrd Stuff” – although we must admit it’s a bit light on the music side, focussing almost exclusively on the years he spent working in a well known Church Street building supplies shop.